In its first two seasons on NBC, "The Flip Wilson Show" was the second-most watched program on TV. His comic characters spawned two of the medium's hottest catchphrases, "The devil made me do it" and "What you see is what you get!" (The latter lives on in its acronym, a computer application that allows you to see what a document you're working on will look like - WYSIWYG.) He jump-started the careers of the two biggest names in comedy, George Carlin and Richard Pryor. In January 1972, Time magazine had him on the cover, calling him "TV's First Black Superstar." | April 17, 2013»Read Full Article

NBC airs a "Parks and Recreation" double header Thursday, and in one episode Patton Oswalt appears before the Pawnee City Council and engages in a citizen filibuster, drawing on the recent acquisition of the "Star Wars" universe by the Disney corporation.

The eight minute scene was completely improvised. Watch the faces of the audience. | April 17, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

"I met some of my heroes as the result of being the events coordinator at Schwartz Bookshop," Gohde told me when we talked about the Cedar Block show, which salutes Schwartz as an incubator of friendship, creativity and community. | April 17, 2013»Read Full Blog Post(1)

Welcome to your Wednesday. If you are looking for things to do, artist and photographer Kevin Miyazaki will be talking about "Perimeter," a photographic portrait of Lake Michigan and its people, at the Haggerty Museum of Art at noon. At the same time, the guys at The Disclaimer will be chatting about things Milwaukee on WMSE, which you can stream (or listen to later) from their web site.